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Oconee Blotter

Posted: Wednesday, April 28, 2010

By Staff Reports

The Oconee County Sheriff's Office reported the following incidents:

Domestic: On April 9, a deputy was dispatched about 10:25 p.m. to a home where a 45-year-old woman and her 54-year-old boyfriend were having an argument. The man, who appeared intoxicated, said the woman bit him, then came after him with a stick because she couldn't find her van. The man said the woman was so drunk that she just forgot where she parked it. Neither appeared injured. The woman's teenage daughter called law enforcement upon hearing them arguing.

Arrest: On April 9, a deputy was dispatched to Kohl's department store on Epps Bridge Parkway, where Alma Rosa Aviles, 26, and Nereida Dita Benitez, 22, both of Hollow Ridge Drive, Athens, were being detained for suspicion of shoplifting after they concealed some items in their purses.

Complaint: On April 9, a deputy was dispatched to a Watson Springs Road home after a woman said she found some items on her property - including a Dish network satellite dish, a Homelite chain saw and a Homelite backpack blower - that possibly were stolen.

Arrest: On April 10, a deputy responded to a report of a possible drunken driver on Georgia Highway 316, where he saw a vehicle weaving in the road and traveling about 20 mph. The deputy got behind the vehicle, which suddenly accelerated to 50 mph, then slowed back down to 20. During a traffic stop, the driver said he had been to a wedding and now was lost. Asked if he had been drinking, he replied, "Oh, yes." William Francis Minihan, 61, of Lansing, Mich., was charged with DUI after his blood-alcohol content registered 0.16 on a Breathalyzer test.

Damage: On April 10, a deputy was dispatched to Osceola Avenue, Bogart, where someone had spray-painted words on the street, including a profane word in front of a Baptist church. A swastika was painted on a "for sale" sign in front of a home, and male sex organs were depicted on the road near the Gear Road intersection.

Damage: On April 11, a Northwoods Road, Watkinsville, resident found where someone tried to remove two screens from windows in her garage.

Burglary: On April 12, deputy Joe Williams was dispatched about 3:30 a.m. for an alarm activated at a Knox Ridge, Watkinsville home. Williams found wet footprints on the back deck and a broken window. Other deputies soon arrived and checked inside the house, but the intruder was gone. The owner arrived to find a flat-screen TV was missing from a bedroom. As Williams was leaving, he spotted a golf cart in a nearby yard. The resident said the cart didn't belong there, so it was impounded. A entering-auto call then came in at a house on nearby Gunter Circle. The complainant checked, but nothing was missing from his vehicle. Authorities are unsure whether the two crimes are related.

Theft: On April 12, a Chaddwyck Drive resident reported that someone stole her vehicle from the driveway and also stole multiple items from her garage, including fishing rods and 50 fishing lures. The keys had been left inside the vehicle.

Fraud: On April 12, a Bishop woman reported two unauthorized withdrawals totalling about $170 from her banking account from an ATM at the Golden Pantry convenience store in Bishop.

Theft: On April 12, deputies learned of a series of vehicle break-ins in the Crystal Hills subdivision. A 67-year-old Athens man at a Crystal Hills Drive home said someone stole a briefcase containing personal and family information from his car. The deputy took the complaint and parked at the end of the driveway, where he happened to notice a briefcase on the ground at the woodline. He retrieved the case and returned it to the man. Meanwhile, a 63-year-old Crystal Hills Drive resident told deputies both of his vehicles were entered, with $8 missing from one and nothing from the other. A 23-year-old Wild Azalea Lane resident reported that although his car was entered, he couldn't find anything missing. And a 67-year-old Robinson Court resident reported that someone stole a briefcase and a computer from his car.

Complaint: On April 12, a deputy was dispatched about 4 p.m. to T's Corner Store on Monroe Highway, where a red 2000 Peterbilt truck, stolen in Tampa, Fla., was found parked in the lot. The steering wheel was missing.

Arrest: On April 11, deputy Clark Sparrow was dispatched about 2 a.m. to a location on U.S. Highway 441 for a reportedly reckless driver. Sparrow spotted a silver Scion on the side of the road and a man trying to change one of its tires. Crosby C. Stockton said he hit a ditch and blew the tire. He explained he had been at a friend's residence at Oak Hill Apartments in Athens when he got into an argument with the friend's wife and he decided to leave. Sparrow noticed some damage to the car, and Stockton admitted he'd been drinking about three beers an hour since 10 p.m. The deputy gave him some roadside sobriety tests, then decided to charge Stockton, 24, of Clayton with DUI.

Theft: On April 12, a Phimarga Lane resident reported that someone entered his car and stole $500 cash and credit cards from his wallet.

Theft: On April 12, a deputy was dispatched to the 8000 block of Macon Highway for a suspicious car parked behind a house. A check on the Ford Escape showed it was stolen in South Carolina.

Dispute: On April 12, a man said he and his mother had been to a movie, and when he dropped her off at her car at A.J.'s store on Monroe Highway, she took his car keys, then ran to her vehicle. The woman was upset that her son's father owed her $500.

Arrest: On April 13, a deputy was traveling down Georgia Highway 316 about 2 a.m. when a Honda Civic passed him at a high rate of speed. The deputy reached 80 mph in pursuing the car, which stopped near Julian Drive. The driver said she had to use the bathroom badly and was headed to Athens. The woman smelled of alcohol but said she had not had anything to drink in the past few hours. Caroline Kyueun Mo, 20, of Duluth was charged with DUI. She accused the deputy of violating her rights by continually asking her to take a blood-alcohol test.

Dispute: On April 13, a pregnant 42-year-old Watkinsville woman said she had an argument with her husband, who took her car keys, then pushed her before leaving the house.

Damage: On April 13, a 49-year-old Watkinsville woman said she was driving on Burson Avenue in Bogart when she stopped for a traffic light. She said she heard a noise and saw that a rock had damaged her car window. A Bogart city employee was cutting grass on the other side of the road, and the blade apparently hurled a rock toward her car.

Arrest: On April 13, a deputy was dispatched about 2 p.m. to Oconee County High School, where someone stole a debit card and cell phone from a student who had laid her purse down near the practice field while she played ball. Another student had seen someone looking through her purse, and two school employees located the suspect, who denied any knowledge of the theft. The student gave them consent to search him, and they found the stolen debit card in his wallet. The student said he had found the card on the ground and planned to turn it in after school. Questioned by the deputy, the student said the person who stole the cell phone told him where it was, and the deputy located it in a bathroom. Landon T. Riddle, 18, of High Shoals Road was charged with theft by receiving stolen property.

Fraud: On April 13, a Bogart woman reported that she received a bill from Belk showing an unauthorized charge of $827 on her card. She identified two possible suspects.

Theft: On April 14, an employee at Prince Avenue Christian School on Ruth Jackson Road, Bogart, reported that some cash was stolen in a computer lab.

Theft: On April 13, an Old Bishop Road, Bishop, resident reported that someone has been stealing pine straw on her property at Hardigree Bell Road. The woman said a neighbor reported seeing an old orange pickup, loaded with pine straw and covered with a tarp, leaving the area.

Arrest: On April 14, a deputy patrolling on U.S. Highway 441 about 2:40 p.m. saw a red Dodge pickup with a child standing up in the front seat. The deputy stopped the pickup and saw another child who was not properly secured in a safety seat. As he spoke to the female driver, the deputy smelled marijuana and heavy perfume, but the woman said no one had been smoking marijuana. She consented to a search and the deputy found marijuana in her purse, including one bag containing a quarter-pound of the drug. Dawn M. Simpson, 40, of Mallard Court, Madison, was charged with felony marijuana possession.

Dispute: On April 14, deputy Joe Williams was dispatched about 4 a.m. to a home on Aycock Road, Bishop, where a woman said her ex-boyfriend was at her home and would not leave. The man had left when the deputy arrived, and the woman explained he wanted a dog that they mutually owned during their relationship.

Theft: On April 13, a deputy was dispatched to Malcom Bridge Middle School, where a student said someone stole an iPod from her purse.

Fraud: On April 15, a Broadlands Drive woman said someone made unauthorized withdrawals totaling $627 from her bank account. The transactions occurred in Maryland.

Arrest: On April 16, deputy Clark Sparrow was dispatched shortly before 6 p.m. to Oconee Veterans Park for a dispute during a child's softball game. A 35-year-old Watkinsville woman explained that an umpire made a call that angered some spectators. Two women became especially upset and unruly and began insulting the umpire. When a 27-year-old Bishop-area man made a comment supporting the umpire's call, one woman allegedly responded that she was going to "shoot up the place." The man said he told the two women the umpire made the call for a safety reason. Sparrow found one of the women, 36-year-old Tammy Jackson of Athens, in her vehicle in the parking lot. Jackson denied making the threats and said she was a peaceful woman who didn't even own a gun. The other woman, 46-year-old Bertha Wingfield of Bogart, admitted to yelling but said she was trying to restore peace after Jackson's remarks. Witnesses all agreed that Wingfield and Jackson were disruptive, and they clearly heard Jackson threaten to "shoot up the place." Jackson was arrested for making a terroristic threat, and Wingfield was arrested for disorderly conduct.

Arrests: Oconee County sheriff's deputies arrested a University of Georgia student and an Athens Technical College student on drug trafficking charges April 15 as they were leaving for a music festival in Florida, Sheriff Scott Berry said. Tech student Stephen Matthew Farmer, 21, of 370 Pope St., Athens, and UGA student Nick Buchanan, 24, of North Main Street, Stephens, were charged with trafficking in MDMA (commonly called ecstasy), marijuana and a prescription drug. Deputies stopped a car on U.S. Highway 441 in Bishop for a traffic violation, and during a search found 32 grams of ecstasy, a small amount of marijuana and 31 Lortab pills, Berry said. Two others in the car were released without charges.

Dispute: On April 17, deputy David Burchett was dispatched to a Ridgeway Road, Bogart, home where a 46-year-old man said his ex-wife walked through the front door, began cursing and told him she was there to get some of her clothing. He reminded her that a court order prohibited her from being in the house, but she ignored him. She also pushed an air conditioner out of a window before leaving in her Dodge pickup, which threw gravel and left spin marks in the driveway. The man said she threatened to come back and burn the house, and he told the deputy he believes she would do it. The 911 office also received a call from the woman, who reported that her ex-husband was using drugs. The deputy wrote that he plans to arrest the 38-year-old woman.

Complaint: On April 16, a 32-year-old Athens woman reported that she believes an assault inflicted on her in July at her Bogart workplace led to the death of her unborn child. The woman said she was assaulted by her co-worker, but her boss intervened. She said the assailant later attacked her from behind again. The woman, who at the time was four weeks pregnant, said she learned in October the baby was dead. Sheriff Scott Berry said an investigator has requested medical records.

Arrest: On April 16, a Dodge Intrepid was stopped on Georgia Highway 316 after it did not pull over for a deputy's traffic stop. Kandy C. Butler, 47, of Loganville was arrested for driving in violation of a limited permit.

Theft: On April 16, a North Oconee High School student reported someone stole his cell phone from a gym bag in the gymnasium locker room.

The Watkinsville Police Department reported the following incidents:

Complaint: On April 14, police were called to a Cedar Drive home where a resident said his neighbor was throwing trash and limbs across a fence into his property. The neighbor agreed to clean up the debris.

Arrest: On April 15, police stopped a vehicle on Greensboro Highway and arrested Natosha Lynn Wilson, 36, of Antioch Church Road for driving while her license was suspended, having a suspended license plate and being an uninsured driver.

The Oconee County Fire Department responded to the following incidents: